Meeting the Family
by LilyRoseHarper
Summary: Claudia's parents are in town to meet the man in her life, Helen is not happy.


Nick Cutter was nervous. Today he was finally going to meet Claudia's family. They had been dating for almost six months and now it was time to meet the parents. He was worried that her father - a soldier and a man of action – wouldn't like Nick, an academic. Claudia assured him her father didn't care what Nick did for a living as long as he made a living. Nick wasn't reassured.

Nick spent the day of their arrival making sure the house was spotless. All his books were in the bookshelf where they belonged - as opposed to the floor as they normally were- his desk was tidy, all the dishes were washed and put away and the closet was organised and ready to receive the Browns' coats. The spare room was clean and bright and the bed was made. Nick took one last look around the house and knew that if Helen could see this place now she would think someone else lived there.

Nick let out a laugh. "The last time I saw this house this clean was the day before I moved in."

Claudia smiled at her boyfriend. "Thank you for this."

"Anything for you, love."

Claudia and Nick picked her parents up at Heathrow. Lidia Brown was Claudia all grown up. The same hair, the same eyes, and the same pretty smile. Jason Brown looked like a soldier; he had the look in his eyes that Nick had seen in the eyes of Ryan and his men. A look that said he's seen everything and nothing can impress him. A look that always made Nick nervous. They greeted each other pleasantly, Nick picked up their luggage and made small talk all the way back to the house. They talked about the weather, the Browns talked about their garden and their neighbours and how they all miss Claudia and all wish her well.

When they got to the house the Browns admired the house and the garden. Nick took their luggage up to the spare room. The whole time he was hoping nothing came up at work.

They had a pleasant evening and Nick was beginning to think that the visit would be okay and that nothing would ruin it. He was wrong.

--

Helen needed Nick's help. She was short on cash and needed supplies. Normally she would steal what she needed but her usual haunts had upped their security and she couldn't take the chance that Lester and his cronies would catch her. She knew that Nick always had money lying around amongst the mess. All she needed was to use her old key while he was out and gather up the cash and Nick would never know.

Helen couldn't believe it - the house was spotless. Nick had cleaned up his mess; he never cleaned up his mess. Why in the world would Nick clean up the house? Helen had to know. She stayed nearby and waited for Nick to come back. What she saw amazed her. He'd brought Claudia Brown's parents to the house. He never brought her parents to the house - why would he bring Claudia's parents?

Helen watched their evening getting madder and madder. She watched them have a pleasant evening and all the while she plotted her revenge.

--

The next day started out well. They had a nice breakfast made by Claudia's mother. Nick complimented her cooking skills. Jason seemed more relaxed and Nick was hoping that Jason was beginning to like him. They sat down trying to decide what to do for the day when everything went to hell.

They heard the front door open and when Nick went to investigate he saw the door wide open and three elginias rampaging around the hallway. As he neared them hoping to usher them back out the door the small dinosaurs panicked and ran through the nearest door, sadly it wasn't the front door. Nick now had three elginias in his sitting room.

"Nick, what's going on?" Claudia asked from the kitchen doorway.

"Three elginias are in the sitting room," Nick whispered.

"How did they get in?" Claudia asked, wide-eyed.

"Someone opened the door."

"Helen?"

Nick had a sinking feeling she was right. "Why would she send three elginias? They're harmless."

"Maybe she isn't happy about my parents being here?"

"How would she know?" Nick looked at her in horror. "Do you think she's been spying on us?"

"If she is, we're moving out. I don't want that woman knowing my every move."

Nick sighed. "I agree but first we need to get these dinos out of here."

"Claudia, Nick is everything okay?" Lidia asked from the kitchen.

"Everything's fine, mother." Claudia called back, she turned back to Nick. "We need to get them out of here before my parents see."

"Dear Lord, Claudia, what the hell is this?" Jason Brown yelled from the kitchen.

Claudia ran to the kitchen, one of the elginias had got past her and Nick while they were talking and it sat on the kitchen table eating the leftover breakfast.

"Claudia, do you mind explaining about this creature?" her father asked quietly.

"Um, the neighbours have some exotic pets and it must have sneaked out."

"Claudia Brown, don't lie to me," her father told her sternly.

"It's a pre-historic creature called an elginia and it came through a doorway through time called an anomaly," Claudia told her father quickly.

Jason Brown shook his head. "If I didn't know you so well I'd have thought you were joking. How do you know all this?"

"My work in the home office is as liaison between them and the science team which Nick leads. They work on containing the threat and getting the creatures back through the anomaly."

"What are we going to do about this one?"

Claudia looked at Nick. "I'll call the rest of the team and get them to bring some carry boxes to put them in."

"Them?"

"Oh, there are two more in the other room."

Claudia called Abby, Connor and Stephen to come and bring carry boxes large enough to hold the creatures. They arrived ten minutes later with the boxes but they were too late to save the house. The elginias had completely destroyed the clean rooms that Nick had worked so hard at. The furniture was either broken or overturned, the books were once again on the floor with papers scattered everywhere and the kitchen looked like a tornado had hit it. Amongst all the mess sat Claudia, Lidia, Jason, and Nick laughing about the antics of the three elginias still wreaking havoc on the furniture. The team quickly gathered up the creatures and took them away shaking their heads over the antics of the four adults who were still laughing.

After the elginias were taken away and the four of them finally stopped laughing they started cleaning up the mess. Every couple of minutes one of them would recall something the dinos did and they'd all start laughing again. Nick looked around his house and noted the massive chaos, and while the weekend didn't turn out the way he planned and hoped, it did turn out alright in the end. He was confident that he had won over his future in-laws.

--

Helen couldn't believe it. All the trouble she went through to embarrass Nick and Claudia was useless. There they were laughing their heads off not in the least disturbed about pre-historic creatures terrorizing them. Granted, elginias were harmless but still the sight of them should frighten people, not leave them in hysterics. Helen was beyond angry but she was going to take her time in finding the perfect punishment for her straying husband.


End file.
